The enterprise sector has something of a reputation when it comes to new technologies. After all, the amount of systems, software and hardware at play within a single enterprise necessitates a certain amount of care and consideration when it comes to upgrades. However, the government sector can make even the most cautious of companies seem speedy.

With that in mind, reports that the U.S. Department of Commerce is looking into a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution is very significant. According to the official GovWin blog, the Commerce Department is investigating the purchase of cloud CRM in order to replace the "multiple stovepipe systems" that are currently in place.

This news stems from the fact that the department released a Sources Sought notice in May, soliciting feedback from vendors in regards to a system capable of replacing the various software tools that have been in use for years. Presumably, any new cloud CRM solution would have to manage and track agency surveys, marketing campaigns and social media communications.

Responses from these vendors were due early last week, June 17, but the Department of Commerce has yet to comment on any received replies.

At the moment, the Commerce Department and its 12 supporting agencies rely on various existing CRM systems — which include consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) products, SaaS (News - Alert) offerings and custom homegrown applications — supporting around 6,000 users. This system is used to aid in a number of different task and in fact some organizations use it primarily for basic contact tracking, with others performing more complex client, case and marketing management.

As one might expect, this type of system can often prove costly as it requires a fair bit of attention from IT staff. In light of recent budget tightening and federal initiatives to use shared services, a cloud CRM solution such as Soffront Enterprise CRM would be ideal.